I finished this game on Tuesday, May 29, 2001, 12:29:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on March 14, 2008.
Tomb Raider 3 was a bit of a disappointment for a lot of fans; it strayed away from the classic gameplay of the original. The series needed to be redeemed after the wayward sequel.
The Last Revelation goes back to the roots in a lot of ways. The series needed to be reinvented and this game does a very good job at it.
Last Revelation explores the childhood of Lara Croft by providing an insight into her early life. You get to play as the teenage version of Lara croft for the first time in the series. The game starts with young Lara Croft, on an expedition with Warner Von Croy, in Cambodia, in search of an artifact known as the Iris. Lara barely escapes with her life from the ordeal that ensues.
Moving to the present day, Lara is in Egypt in search of the Amulet of Horus. She finds the artifact in the burial chambers embedded on the sarcophagus. Upon removing it, she unknowingly releases the curse of Seth upon the world. Now, it is up to you to set things right by imprisoning Seth in the Temple of Horus.
The emphasis in this game is on exploration unlike in Tomb Raider II & III. The puzzles are innovative, and require some thinking to solve. I wasn't frustrated with this game, although the difficulty can sometimes be quite high. I think that's one of the reasons I like this game so much. I love the way puzzles have evolved.
We see a whole new inventory system this time. No more use of the passport, and it works better too. It allows players to combine objects and weapons, which is crucial in solving puzzles.
You get your share of vehicles as well. The jeep which is available in the early part of the game and the motorcycle which is available a little later handle well, and provide some exciting moments.
Apart from the first two levels, the locations are all set in Egypt. Lara will not be travelling the world in search of objects. The gameplay is more focused on one location, which is not your usual Tomb Raider material. I thought the developers did a fantastic job creating the Egyptian environments.
Contrary to the perception that all locations might look alike, they are surprisingly varied and very beautiful, which leads us to graphics.
The engine is not new, but it is heavily tweaked. The textures are much better and the Lara Croft model looks more consistent because of single skin texturing; unlike in the previous games where it looked as if the model was a combination of different body parts tailored together. I was pleased with the result; I didn't care if the engine was not new. Besides it was 1999, graphics were not what they are now.
There are some technical faults to be mentioned though. The game contains some bugs in the later parts of the game, so it's not technically polished. I believe patches are released to prevent this bug, so applying those will save some trouble.
The gameplay involves traveling back and forth between levels and sometimes that can be quite disorienting, because you tend to lose sight of your goal at times. That was a minor gripe I had with the game.
All in all, I am thoroughly pleased with Last Revelation. Given the thrilling ending, this is a true sequel to the original Tomb Raider.
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